Former teacher's molestation trial begins

Former St. John Berchmans Catholic School teacher Arturo Flores, 56, watches as his attorney gives an opening statement Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, during his indecency with a child trial. He is accused of molesting two students during class.

Three young girls took the witness stand Monday as the indecency with a child trial began for former St. John Berchmans Catholic School teacher Arturo Flores, who is accused of brazenly groping each of his accusers during class.

Flores, 56, taught computer classes for various grades at the school.

He could face up to 20 years in prison on each count if jurors in the 187th state District Court convict him of inappropriately touching a second-grader six times from 2010 to 2011 and targeting a third-grader one time the previous school year.

A third child, not included in the indictment, testified outside the presence of the jury Monday that Flores patted her upper thigh during a second-grade class.

“He asked me if I was wearing underwear,” said the child, who wore her school uniform on the stand.

A student who was sitting next to her had a slightly different recollection, explaining that Flores explicitly asked to see the child's underwear then said, “ que bonita”— “how beautiful” — when she complied.

Judge Raymond Angelini barred jurors from hearing testimony from the two additional students, ruling that it was too prejudicial.“As a parent, we think school is the safest place we can have our kids,” Assistant District Attorney Jessica Frazier said during opening statements. “We'll ask you to take back your schools and take back those children's innocence.”

Both students who are the main subject of the trial said Flores would stand behind them then reach for their laps as they sat at their computers.

While careful not to explicitly call the children liars, defense attorney Abel Dominguez Sr. said their version of events would have been impossible given a classroom full of classmates and even other adults.

“That's all they hear: Watch out (for pedophiles), watch out, watch out,” he said. “So something that can be innocent can be taken out of context.”